Increasing the surface area of luck

Many things in life are based on some level of luck, randomness or happenstance. We can affect those odds to some extent with our life choices but sometimes Lady Fortuna is not on our side.

I’ve often referred to these life choices as “putting yourself to a position to be lucky” but last week I read even better phrasing. Lou Franco wrote about how being active in your alumni networks can increase the surface area of luck. I really love that phrasing. It still conveys that it’s on the “luck”’s side to decide whether it hits you or not but you’re increasing the odds.

There are many ways you can increase that surface area. I’ve written about how being active can increase the chance of serendipity. Recently I wrote in our Python community’s blog about the hallway track and networking with people in your communities outside the official program. Another way is working and learning in public which incidentally is also one of my tools for fighting my impostor syndrome.

Sam Matla also has an article on increasing the surface area of luck. In it, he goes way deeper into different approaches and strategies.

And even if the luck doesn’t always hit your area, by making friends and participating in discussions you’ve already gained a many great things in life from those directly.